Atwood plans repeat NZ tour
The Handmaid’s Tale author,
Margaret Atwood, is returning to New Zealand this summer for a speaking tour.
The Canadian writer, who celebrates her 80th birthday today, will visit in February to promote her latest novel, The Testaments.
The novel, published in August, is the sequel to her acclaimed 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale.
The Testaments continues the story of the earlier novel’s main character, Offred, and is set 15 years after its end.
The author is more popular than ever thanks to US streaming service Hulu’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, which screens on Lightbox in New Zealand and stars Elisabeth Moss. Atwood has collectively published more than 50 books of fiction, poetry and critical essays.
The three-show tour of New Zealand will make stops in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
It begins in Wellington on February 10 at the Michael Fowler Centre, before Atwood heads to Auckland on February 11. The speaking tour concludes with a Christchurch date on February 12.
Fans can expect to hear directly from the author about her award-winning career as a writer, and Atwood will share why she decided to return to Gilead with The Handmaid’s Tale sequel 34 years later.
She says: “I am so happy to be returning to New Zealand, where I have spent so much time in the past, and where readers have always been so warm and welcoming.”
Pre-sales begin at 12pm on Monday, November 25, and tickets go on sale to the general public at 12pm, Friday, November 29.
If you’re under 25, you’re in luck — 25 tickets will be given away to each show on the day to those under 25.